GaryVee in Pasadena

I just came back from the most inspiring talk. Gary Vaynerchuck of Wine Library TV is currently on a book signing tour for Crush It! Pardon all the links, but Gary's got what it takes in getting the word out, and I don't mind being a part of it. When we first started watching Wine Library we thought he was a little wacky. He talks about wine smelling like Twizzlers and tasting like sheet rock among other bizarre descriptions. The thing is though, he really nails it business-wise. He took his dad's liquor store and built it up into a multimillion dollar business. And he will tell you that it didn't happen overnight. He says, "You've got to work your face off." He also says, "Just be you. You are a snowflake." I like that. I asked a question specifically about this knitting blog and the fact that there are so many others out there. He said "Just do it. It will work because you love it." That's the truth. I haven't gotten in nearly enough knitting time this week. I've been studying for a midterm. (I think I got an A.) I've got another one next week, so things have been a little hectic around here. Plus, our daughter and granddaughter came over on Sunday for DD's birthday. We had the family over. DGD is getting big! 6 months now and so cute. I really need to start some baby things....

I was able to work on my illusion scarf today at Bible Study. I'm almost finished with it. The Clandestine socks that I started at HSB are still on the needles. I've done 3 repeats of the leg pattern. I need to get a picture of it. There is one part of the pattern that stumped me during the first go round. It's marked like a double decrease on the chart, but the key says, "sk2p" which I read as, "slip, knit 2, pass slipped stitch over." That leaves an extra stitch, though. I decided that it really should be slip, k2tog, pass. It works much better that way...

I will be blogging more about the knitting now that I got a kick in the pants from Gary V. I'll also be seeing a bunch of you guys on your blogs to see what you're up to and I promise not to lurk anymore! ;) Off to read the rest of Crush It! BTW, buy the book! It's great!

Cheryl :)

Our Hardly Strictly Adventure

I spotted this amazing jacket as we were leaving the airport on Friday to go to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco. I want to make it. The lady was kind enough to let me take pictures. She calls it her Sherpa Jacket. If I write the pattern I might just share....

Back to the weekend.

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is an amazing FREE concert. It is three days long with 6 different stages going all at the same time. Our wonderful benefactor is Warren Helman, who just does it for the love of the music. And it's crazy, but it is FREE to the public. He books these amazing acts every year. Of course we couldn't see them all, but those we did see were outstanding. We got a surprise guest appearance by Robert Plant. He played with Buddy Miller on Friday night at the Great American Concert Hall, so we were hoping he would show up at the festival. I heart Robert! sigh...

There was a sock monkey sighting right in front of us. Aren't they cute?!!!


The girl made them. They are only about 5 inches tall.They got to watch the concerts too. I think they are boyfriend and girlfriend.

Saturday evening we hopped on the party bus. I hope no one's mom was watching. I haven't laughed so hard in years. We did the wave on the bus. I think we scared some lady. She got off in a hurry.

 

My project for the weekend was Cookie A's Clandestine sock from Knitty's Fall 09 issue. Unfortunately I didn't see the link for the chart when I printed the pattern out, so I was stuck after the cuff. I had to wait until we got back to the hotel and I could get the link on DH's IPhone. Then I took a picture and used that for Sunday's knitting. Some lady behind us said, "Oh, you brought your crocheting?" I said, "No, it's knitting." "Oh, little baby knitting," she said. I said, "...Uhhhh....Yeah..." Never mind. She had already scored negative points with us when we were just setting up and she and her boyfriend come up behind us after we already had our place and she whines that shes not going to be able to see because our chairs are too tall and they have little bitty chairs. "Do you want to trade?" she says. DH says, "No." We kept hearing her complain about how she couldn't see. Then they left for half the time. When they came back their huge dog howled every time a certain pitch was hit. Uggghhhh. Thankfully they left early.

This is Emmy Lou Harris getting her honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. Linda Ronstadt was there presenting as well. Unfortunately they didn't sing together and my camera battery went dead right before Emmy Lou performed. 

What a great, amazing weekend in a gorgeous setting. This is just the crowd at the Banjo Stage on Sunday, looking back from where we were sitting. I can only imagine how many people were there. Everyone was amazingly well behaved too.

Well, back to work....

Firmaments is Finished!

I am finally done with my tablecloth. I think it ties the room together. ;) Lebowski, anyone? I did choose the color because one of our pictures has a lot of this blue in it. The blocking took nearly all day. Apparently my gauge was off by a couple of inches. I tried to stretch it to the pattern's dimensions, but the pins kept popping. At first I had it on the bed, but couldn't get it to stretch enough, so then I laid it out on the floor. I bent my lace blocking wires all to heck by putting them around the edges, but I don't care. I think it looks beautiful. It seems to fit the table nicely too, and I think 4 more inches would have been too much for this table. I wonder how you are really supposed to block a circular knitted piece?

Fritter and Waste the Hours...

I didn't get much done today and it all started because I just had to start the edging on my Firmaments Lace Shawl. It set me back on starting the day because I knit in bed before I even get up. Probably the first mistake, but if I didn't, I might not get to the knitting. Such a dilemma. So just as I was about to get going, DH needed to talk about something work related. By the time we got done with that I decided it was too late to go out and run, so I just ate breakfast and figured I could do a little Pilates instead. What happened to that? Well, never mind, I need to get some work done. As soon as I sat down at my desk I realized that my computer had rebooted itself and gotten stuck. Reboot the reboot. Finally got some stuff done. Anyway, here's the latest pics of Firmaments. I love how this is coming out.

You Should Be Knitting, Yeah!

Fountain Lace

Knitting is so good for what ails the soul. The rhythmic click of the needles, the concentration on a lace pattern, counting stitches. It relieves my mind of things that are wrong with the world even as I am listening to the news or reading Twitter. The situation in Iran is especially upsetting. I watched a video of students who had been shot and beaten the other day and I sobbed. I can't watch any more. Just knowing that is going on and hearing the voices like the woman who called CNN yesterday and begged the US for help is heartwrenching. I feel powerless and yet I want to do something. It seems all I can do is pray. Keeping me occupied lately are the Firmaments Lace Shawl and the Montavilla Market Tote from Knit Picks. This is how the shawl looked a couple of days ago. I have about 4 1/2 repeats of the Fountain lace pattern done today, so the pattern shows up much better.

Center of shawlStarlight Lace Pattern

I love lace. It keeps my mind occupied. It is one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning. According to my DH, I should make it my occupation since it is what I am obsessed by. That makes sense since knitting is one of the first things I think about in the morning and one of the last things I do before bed. I haven't quite figured out how to make money at it yet. It seems I only spend money on it! I did have a look at Etsy.com and discovered that folks are selling hand knit garments. I wish there was a way to tell how many sold. In any case, my big dream is to design. I started on a fingerless glove several months back but it is currently hibernating. I think it will be a case of carving out specific times that I can work on design rather than simply knitting other's designs. I learn a ton from other people's work. The Firmaments Lace Shawl is one example of discovering how to make wonderful lace. It is almost a sampler. I don't quite get how the movement of the stitch markers doesn't throw the symmetry off. It just works. I want to use some of these lace patterns in other garments. One of my friends has a sweater she got from Mervyn's that has a lace pattern in the yolk. I have been trying to figure that one out for months and the Fountain Lace pattern is pretty close to her sweater. I will try some modifications and see if I can't figure out what is going on. I think I am closer now for having worked on the shawl. I was particularly inspired by Cookie A's new book, Sock Innovation.

She talks about the design process and particularly about how socks can be the "perfect first step toward learning to design." I think I could probably do the same kind of thing on an even smaller scale with gloves and mittens. Off to lunch with DH now. I'll talk at ya later! I just found out that you can look at the number of sales a shop has on Etsy. Off to do some research...